Auburn won the game 30-20 in Auburn, ruining Alabama's perfect season.

The parallels between 2009 and 20 years ago offer some additional hope among Auburn fans:

>> The Alabama ranking -- Alabama was ranked second going into the 1989 game and this time, too.

>> The block -- The 1989 Bama team preserved a perfect season with Thomas Rayam's block of a potential game-winning field goal at Penn State. The '09 team preserved one with Terrence Cody's block of Tennessee's attempted game-winning field goal.

>> The veteran Auburn quarterback -- Reggie Slack was a battle-tested senior then, just as Chris Todd is now.

>> The rookie Alabama quarterback -- Junior Gary Hollingsworth claimed the job early in the season, his first as a starter. Junior Greg McElroy assumed the starting job for Alabama in the preseason after serving as the backup for two seasons.

If Auburn is going to pull a similar upset, it may need a performance like the one Auburn got in 1989 from receiver Alexander "Ace" Wright.

Wright, who now runs a ministry in his name and is the head coach and athletics director at San Jacinto Christian Academy in Amarillo, Texas, remembers the intensity of the first Iron Bowl played in Auburn.

"There was so much excitement and electricity that we felt it in warm-ups," Wright recalled. "No one was sitting down. ... Guys were playing full speed, on both sides. Guys were making plays they'd never made before."

And no one made bigger plays than Wright.

The senior set up Auburn's first score of the day on the fourth snap of the game, outracing Efrum Thomas, who stayed stride for stride but couldn't deny a 44-yard bomb from Slack that Wright pulled in over a shoulder.

After Auburn reclaimed the lead early in the third quarter, 14-10, Wright made another sensational play -- one that would be You Tubed and, perhaps, remain controversial if it happened today.

He ran a fly pattern down the sideline to haul in a 60-yard pass from Slack, setting up the Tigers at the Bama 14-yard line. But to get there, he had to regain his balance out of bounds and return to the field of play.

"I was trying to make a move around the defender. I don't remember if I was trying to avoid him or if he pushed me out of bounds -- I mean, it's been 20 years," Wright said.